Sick of paying for a phone line you don't use? New 'super-fast' broadband launched that doesn't need a landline

Households will no longer be forced to have a landline to get an internet connection, after a provider today launched a new 4G ‘fibre-fast’ broadband that runs without a phone line.

The service requires customers to only plug a router into a power source to gain access to the internet.

Called Relish, the service by UK Broadband promises speeds of up to 65Mbps and is now available to customers living in central London, although the provider said it is looking to expand the service to the rest of the city and the country in the future.

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No landline required: Relish customers will only need to plug a router into a power source to have internet access

Relish home unlimited package costs £20 a
month and customers can choose whether to sign up to a monthly
contract, in which case the cost of the router would be £50, or a to
yearly contract, which includes the device for free.

Currently in order to get broadband, customers must have landline at home, which means they have to pay for the line rental and sometimes for installation as well.

Most phone lines, apart from Virgin Media lines, are owned by BT. Usually households have to make an appointment with a BT engineer to install or re-connect their landline.

BT says it can take up to 15 working days to install a landline from the time of the order, or longer depending on the availability, and customers have long complained about slow installation times.

Relish says it can deliver its broadband products to homes or businesses the next working day and that its router 'plug and play' only needs to be plugged into a power source to be used to access the internet.

Nicholas
James, chief executive of UK Broadband, said: ‘These are game-changing
products in our view because you need no landline, it's next day
delivery - so you can be up and running really quickly and it's
transparent pricing so you get what you pay for.’

Relish
also includes a mobile service, where users carry a small device called
a ‘pocket hub’, which gives 4G access when carried around Central
London and switches to 3G provided by mobile network Three when outside
this area.

The mobile unit is free for customers on a 12 month contract, but for those taking out 30 days of 4G access it costs £25 up front.
The company offers data plans starting from £10 for 1GB of data.

‘We think that the combination of transparency and convenience is
something which makes ours a stand-out product in the market, and that's
what we're launching,’ Mr James said.

Relish
commissioned a report to the Centre for Economics and Business Research
(CEBR), which found that £156million was lost in ‘landline tax’ by
households across London.

It also found, unsurprisingly, that 47 per cent of residents in central
London said they would prefer not to have landline as part of their
deal. This is down to an increasing number of people on mobile phone
deals offering unlimited calls or a high number of free minutes, making
landlines redundant.

The launch come as a report by the regulator Ofcom published last month found that one in four UK residential fixed broadband connections is 'superfast', although a notable number of households in rural areas still suffer from considerably slower speeds.